Reality starts to sink in for Amazon HQ2 finalists
Worried residents say housing prices, gridlock would be unbearable
SAN FRANCISCO – Landing Amazon’s $ 5 billion new headquarters and its 50,000 tax- paying workers would be quite the coup. And possibly quite the headache.
Officials and civic organizers in some of the 20 cities now vying to win Amazon’s choice for its second headquarters are sounding alarms that accommodating this tech talent invasion could put a big strain on local residents already grappling with crawling commutes and high housing prices.
In Nashville, some residents were blunt about how a new Amazon headquarters and its well- paid workers could drive up the prices for rental units and homes alike, exacerbating housing problems. “We have a housing crisis now, and all this would do is throw gasoline on the fire,” says John Summers, who leads the Coalition for Nashville Neighborhoods.
Some don’t even seem to mind if Amazon picks another suitor. Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper told the City Club of Denver that if billionaire CEO Jeff Bezos didn’t choose the Mile High City, “I’m not going to cry,” according to The Denver Post.
While he later clarified that he was excitedly pursuing the headquarters because he felt it was the right thing for the city and state, Hickenlooper allowed that some citizens would feel “a sense of relief if they choose somewhere else because there are a lot of challenges and lot of hard work we will be avoiding.”
Cities from Atlanta to New York will need to take an honest look at whether housing stock and public transportation are up to the task.
While cities such as Boston and New York are known for their efficient public transit systems, both suffer from aging infrastructure and strug- gle to keep up with existing demand.
Boston has been trying to find a solution for its growing traffic problems in part by efforts to link its commuter rail lines, says Barry Bluestone, professor of public policy at Northeastern University.
That’s a concern shared even by fans of the Washington, D. C., area’s three finalist bidders. Richard Bedrick, who is studying real estate development at the University of Maryland- College Park, says that while he is excited D. C., northern Virginia and Montgomery County, Md., all are in the running, the traffic implications of a win make him pause.
Those sentiments are echoed among some in finalists such as Miami, Raleigh, N. C., and Los Angeles, which is notorious for its gridlock.
Business owner Mina Lee grew up in Montgomery County and says she is “super excited” about the “great opportunity” of hosting HQ2. But she is concerned that a flood of new young workers and their families could cause overcrowding in schools.
The poorest residents are likely to feel the biggest impact of HQ2.
“People here are enthusiastic about the benefits ( of Amazon’s HQ2), but those economic benefits often miss our most vulnerable citizens,” says Daniel Brisson, executive director of the Burnes Center on Poverty and Homelessness at the University of Denver.